§369μὲν γὰρ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς δραπετεύοντας, ἐπιθήσονται καταφρονήσαντες, θαρροῦντας δὲ ἂν αἴσθωνται, τάχʼ ἂν, εἰ τύχοιεν, ἀμείνους τῆς φύσεως γένοιντο.
For if they see us ourselves fleeing, they will attack us in contempt, but if they perceive us being confident, they might quickly, as it happens, become more obedient than their natural disposition.
ἔτι δʼ οὓς ἂν κομίζωμεν αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν, οὐχ ἕξουσιν ἐκεῖ ποιεῖν ὃ νῦν ἐνταῦθα, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ νῦν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους ἀπέρχονται κρατοῦντας τῆς χώρας, οὕτως ἐκεῖ γε κρατούντων τῆς χώρας πάλιν ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν πολεμίων ταυτὸν τοῦθʼ ὅπερ ἡμεῖς ἐνταῦθα πεπονθότων, οὐχ ἕξουσιν ὅπως μεταστήσονται, ἀλλʼ ἔκ γε τῶν εἰκότων οἱ παρʼ ἐκείνων μᾶλλον ὡς ἡμᾶς ἀφίξονται.
Furthermore, those of them whom we carry in our ships will not have the means to do there what they now do here, but just as they now depart to the enemies who control the country, so there, with us again controlling the country and the enemies having suffered this same thing which we have suffered here, they will not have any way to desert, but in all probability those from the enemy's side will rather come to us.
χωρὶς δὲ τούτων οὐκ εἴ τι τῶν πάντων ἢ μεῖζον ἢ ἔλαττον ὑπομενοῦμεν, τοῦτο σκεπτέον, ἀλλʼ εἰ ταῦτα πάντα ὑπὲρ μεγάλων καρτερήσαιμεν, καὶ τὸν μισθὸν παρὰ τῶν πραγμάτων κομιούμεθα.
Apart from these things, we must not consider whether we shall endure a greater or a lesser of all troubles, but rather that if we should hold out through all these things for the sake of great ends, we shall also receive the reward from the circumstances.
πολὺ γάρ τοι βέλτιον οἶμαι τοῖς ὕστερον χρηστοῖς λῦσαι τὰ νῦν δυσχερῆ ἢ ταῦτά τε μή πω δύνασθαι κἀκείνων ἐθελοντὰς ἀποστῆναι.
For I think it is much better to resolve the present difficulties by future advantages than to be unable to do even this and to voluntarily withdraw from those prospects.
ὅλως δὲ παντὶ τῷ σχήματι τοῦ πολέμου συμβαῖνόν ἐστιν ἡ πρὸς τὴν Σικελίαν ἐξαγωγὴ τῶν πραγμάτων.
In general, the transfer of affairs to Sicily is in accordance with the whole design of the war.
εἰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἡμῖν ἐδέδοκτο πολεμεῖν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους, ὃν ἐκεῖνοι προὐκαλοῦντο, ἄλλος ἂν ἦν λόγος· νῦν δὲ τί ἡμῖν ἔδοξεν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς;
For if it had been resolved by us to war against the Lacedaemonians in this manner which they challenged, there would be another story; but now, what did we resolve from the beginning?
ἐκείνους μὲν ἐμβάλλειν ἐᾶν, αὐτοὺς δὲ ταῖς ναυσὶ χρῆσθαι, καὶ τῆς μὲν γῆς δῃουμένης μὴ προτιμᾶν, πολλὴν ἔχοντας τὴν ἄλλην, τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ δʼ ἐγκεῖσθαι, ὡς οὐ τὸ τοῖς πρὸ ποδῶν μάχεσθαι τοῦτο σῶσον τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλὰ τὸ τὰς ἔξω δυνάμεις κακοῦν αὐτῶν.
To allow them to invade, and ourselves to use our ships, and not to care if our land is ravaged, since we have much other land, but to press hard upon the Peloponnese, on the ground that it is not fighting those before our feet that will save our affairs, but damaging their external forces.
μὴ τοίνυν ἧττόν τι τοῖς ὅλοις συμφέρειν νομίσητε τἀν τῇ Σικελίᾳ κατεργασθέντα ἢ τὸ πλεῖν περὶ Πελοπόννησον, μηδʼ ἄλλως ἂν ἄμεινον τοὺς ἐκ Δεκελείας ἀπαγαγεῖν ἢ τὰς ἔξωθεν ἀφορμὰς αὐτῶν εἰ παρελοίμεθα.
Do not therefore think that what is achieved in Sicily is any less advantageous to the whole than sailing around the Peloponnese, nor that there is any other better way to make them withdraw from Decelea than if we take away their external resources.
εἰ γὰρ μήτε πέμπειν εἰς Σικελίαν ἕξουσι μήθʼ ὑποδέχεσθαι τῶν ἐκεῖθεν μηδὲν, ὑμῖν δʼ αὖ διὰ χειρὸς ἅπαντα ταῦτα καταστήσεται, οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅπως ἂν ἄμεινον καταλυθεῖεν οὐδʼ ὅπως ἂν μᾶλλον ἀπορήσαιεν ὅ τι χρήσαιντο.
For if they have neither the means to send anything to Sicily nor to receive anything from there, and on the other hand all these things are established in your hands, there is no way they could be more beautifully put down, nor how they could be more at a loss as to what they should do.
καὶ μὴν εἰ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον περὶ πλείονος τῆς Ἀττικῆς ποιούμεθα τῆς σιτοπομπίας ἕνεκα, πόσῳ τοῦ γε Ἑλλησπόντου Σικελίαν εἰκός;
Indeed, if we care more for the Hellespont than for Attica for the sake of the grain supply, how much more is it natural to value Sicily than the Hellespont?
ὁ μέν γε τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Πόντου πλοίων τὴν §370παραπομπὴν ἡμῖν ἔχει, ἡ δʼ ἀντʼ ἀμφοῖν τῶν χωρίων τούτων γίγνεται· τῶν γὰρ ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Σικελίας τὴν κομιδὴν ἀσφαλῆ μέχρι τοῦ Πειραιῶς ἔχει.
For while the Hellespont holds for us the convoy of ships from the Pontus, Sicily serves in place of both these regions; for it keeps the transport from the whole of Sicily safe as far as the Piraeus.
πρὸς δὲ τοὺς βαρέως ἔχοντας τοῖς ἐνθάδε πράγμασι καὶ τῷ Δεκέλειαν τετειχίσθαι πρῶτον μὲν ἐκεῖνο ἂν εἴποιμι, ὅτι πάντων ἔστʼ ἀτοπώτατον τῆς μὲν Ἀττικῆς ὅλης παραχωρῆσαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ Δεκελείας τείχους ἀγανακτεῖν, ὥσπερ οὐ τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ τείχους πλείω πράγματα ἔχοντας ἡμῶν.
And to those who take a heavy view of the affairs here and of the fact that Decelea has been fortified, I would say first this: that it is the most absurd of all things to surrender the whole of Attica, and yet to be vexed over the wall of Decelea, as if those from the wall were not having more troubles than we.
ἔπειτʼ ἐνθυμηθῶμεν, τρέποιτο δʼ εἰς ἑτέρους ἡ βλασφημία, πότερον νῦν χεῖρον ἔχει τὰ πράγματα τῇ πόλει καὶ φόβων ἔστʼ ἀξία πλειόνων, ἢ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον, ἡνίχʼ ἧκον μὲν Πελοποννήσιοι πάντες αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ σύμμαχοι καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐδῄουν, ἐνέκειτο δὲ ὁ λοιμὸς, εἰρήνην τὰ πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους εἶναι δοκεῖν ποιῶν, πάντα δʼ ἦν μεστὰ καπνοῦ, πυρκαϊᾶς, φθορᾶς τῆς μὲν ἔξω, τῆς δὲ ἔνδον κατὰ τὴν πόλιν.
Next, let us consider—and may the ill omen turn upon others—whether the affairs of the city are in a worse state now and worthy of more fears, or at that time, when all the Peloponnesians themselves and their allies came and ravaged the country, and the plague pressed hard upon us, making our relations with the enemy seem to be peace, and everything was full of smoke, fire, and destruction, on the outside, and on the inside throughout the city.
ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οὐδʼ ἐν ἅπαντι τῷ πολέμῳ τοσούτους ἡμῶν εὑρίσκω τοὺς τεθνεῶτας, μηδέ γʼ ἄλλοτε συμβαίη, Ζεῦ σῶτερ, ὅσους ἡ νόσος αὕτη διέφθειρεν.
For I do not find, in the whole war, so many of our dead—and may it never happen at another time, Savior Zeus—as this disease destroyed.
εἰ τοίνυν τότʼ ἀπαλγήσαντες κατελυσάμεθα, ὥσπερ τινὲς ἡμᾶς ἔπειθον, ἔσθʼ ὅπως ἄν τι τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα ἔργων πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἐπέπρακτο;
If, then, having lost heart at that time we had made peace, as some tried to persuade us, is there any way that any of the subsequent many and beautiful deeds would have been accomplished?
οὐχ οἷόν τε.
It is not possible.
ἀλλʼ οἶμαι τὰ μὲν παρόντα λογισμῷ διενεγκόντες, τὸ δὲ μέλλον ταῖς ἀμείνοσι τῶν ἐλπίδων ἐπιτρέψαντες, πολλὰς μὲν ναυμαχίας αὐτοὺς κατεναυμαχήσαμεν, τελευτῶντες δὲ ἐν Πύλῳ ζῶντας λαβόντες ἠγάγομεν δεῦρο αὐτοῖς ὅπλοις.
But, I think, enduring the present difficulties by reason, and committing the future to the better of our hopes, we defeated them in many sea-fights, and finally at Pylos, capturing them alive, we brought them here with their weapons.
τοιαῦτα ὁ πόλεμος τοῖς ἐθέλουσι πονεῖν καὶ ταλαιπωρεῖν ἐθέλει χαρίζεσθαι.
Such favors is war accustomed to grant to those who are willing to toil and suffer.
καὶ ταῦτʼ οὐ μόνον ἡμεῖς οἱ νῦν οὕτως ἔγνωμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῶν πατέρων ὑπάρχει παράδειγμα παμμέγεθες, οἱ καὶ τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν χώραν προεῖντο, οὐδὲν τοῦ παρʼ ἀξίαν εἶξαι νομίσαντες φοβερώτερον.
And not only we who are now alive resolved thus, but there also exists the very great example of our fathers, who abandoned both children and wives, and the city itself and the country, deeming nothing more fearful than yielding contrary to their dignity.
εἰ δέ γε ἢ τὸν Ἄθω ἀκούοντες μεταποιούμενον ἢ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον εὐθὺς ἐξεπλάγησαν ὥσπερ ἐν τραγῳδίᾳ, ἢ καὶ μετὰ ταῦθʼ ὡς ἐνίκησαν τὰς ἐπʼ Ἀρτεμισίῳ νίκας, ἀναγκαζόμενοι φεύγειν εἰς τὸ εἴσω τῆς Ἑλλάδος διὰ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιουσῶν νεῶν, ἐνεθυμήθησαν ὡς ἀπέραντα πονοῦσι καὶ περισχήσει σφᾶς ὁ πόλεμος, καὶ πολλῷ γε μᾶλλον ὡς εἶδον ἤδη πᾶσαν
But if they, hearing either of Athos being transformed or of the Hellespont, had been immediately struck with terror as in a tragedy, or even after this, when they won the victories at Artemisium, being forced to flee to the interior of Greece because of the multitude of the approaching ships, had considered that they were toiling without end and that the war would overwhelm them, and much more when they saw already all